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First glimpse of skydiving spiders showing off gliding skills

By Michael Le Page

Video: Skydiving spiders show off their gliding skills

These jungle spiders free fall with style. After being dropped from the tops of trees, the spiders shown in this video are typically able to soar to the nearest tree trunk, providing the first evidence that spiders can glide.

Stephen Yanoviak from the University of Louisville in Kentucky and his colleagues filmed spiders of the genus Selenops as they were released from a height of 24 metres during tests at a research station in the Amazon rainforest in Peru.

Characterised by a flat body, which has earned them the nickname “flatties”, they quickly right themselves and get into a posture similar to that of skydivers. Then they head for a tree trunk more than 90 per cent of the time, travelling up to 5 metres horizontally while steering with their forelegs.

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Selenops spiders usually run away when disturbed, but they do jump off branches when pursued by predatory ants. The team thinks the gliding behaviour evolved because spiders that fall to the ground are more likely to be eaten.

Once they’ve landed on a tree, the spiders can be almost invisible (Image: Stephen P. Yanoviak)

Young spiders have long been known to perform another aerial trick known as ballooning, for which they use silk draglines to travel through the air. Earlier this year, they were spotted soaring on water as well, using parts of their bodies as sails to catch the wind.